The invention relates to a sealing strip for a trough-shaped conveyor.
It also relates to the conveyor provided with said strip.
The use of a belt conveyor to transport bulk materials from one place to another is known.
This belt conveyor has a trough-shaped cross-section so that the belt that molds to this trough forms a chute capable of containing the bulk material.
More particularly, there is a known conveyor whose cross-section is defined by a roller with a horizontal axis and curved so-called guide walls located on either side of the roller.
The conveyor belt glides over these guide walls.
The conveyor belt extends over just part of the guide wall so that it can have a slight transverse motion.
The bulk material is deposited in the center part of the trough, but sometimes, as a result of speed, this material more or less spreads out and can run past the lateral edges of the belt, or even further when the loading speed is too high relative to the linear speed of the belt. The latter phenomenon occurs mainly during gravity loading. In order to keep the bulk material from coming between the conveyor belt and the guide surface, which would impair the operation of the conveyor, a sealing strip attached by its top part onto the inside surface of the guide wall overlaps the top of the conveyor belt.
In theory, the level of bulk material cannot reach the level of the top of the strip.
At the level where it is overlapped by the sealing strip, the conveyor belt glides between the guide wall and the so-called lower surface of the sealing strip.
Due to friction, wear occurs on the sealing strip, and the sealing strip must therefore be replaced.
These sealing strips are generally attached either by means of eyelets with screws and nuts or by a jaw of a clamp that applies the upper edge of the strip to the guide wall. This jaw is applied by tightening screws.
These operations for replacing the strip are long and tedious.
It is also clear that manipulating these screws is made more difficult by dust which accumulates on the screw threads or by corrosion due to the nature or the wetness of these bulk materials.
There is an external strip known from EP 462 847, mounted using a dovetail system. Such an assembly is slide-mounted, as indicated by the assembly in U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,743.
There is a strip known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,344,909 which comprises V-shaped wings at its apex, thus forming a male part, said male part being deformed so as to be inserted into a female part, which must be opened widely in order to insert the wings of the male part one after another. This conveyor is not suitable for transporting bulk materials. The same is true for the device in DE 299 18 166.
If that were the case, dust would accumulate in the female part, resulting in a need to remove the dust prior to replacing the strip.